If it is your first time attending a trade show event, there are certainly many things I can suggest which include trade show graphics with the likes of X banners, banner stands, backdrops, table runners, and a whole lot more. However, the most important thing before those that were mentioned will be the foundation you lay.
The Valuable Medium
When it comes to advertising and marketing, your message will be your medium. What do I mean by this? Well, this means that in order to attract your target clients, you should be able to get inside their heads to understand what makes them hungry, thirsty, laugh, cry, proud, and whatever desires a man can have.
I remember the late Gary Halbert once had a discussion in a group wherein he asked a question about the key to selling hamburgers. The members in such group gave him varied answers, but ultimately he revealed his. His answer was a hungry crowd. From that, what you need to learn is to understand what makes your customer hungry for your product. This is your goal with marketing.
How to Market in Trade Shows
The question now is that how do you advertise and market in a trade show event. There is one sure thing you can do in order to know what makes your target clients hungry. You go ask them. Write down your findings and compose ads that resonate to their hunger. Will you know if the ads work? Nope. With that, you have to test the ads in different ways as possible.
Say for example you have a product that appeals to the senior citizens, so you probably understand that you won’t sell much android phone apps to this kind of old/geriatric market.
Understand your target market
The first thing is to know your market. Know what magazines or books they read, what shows they watch, what foods they eat, where they eat, what cars do seniors like, what cars do the younger ones want, and so the like.
Let’s say that your product is a cool smart phone in tons of different shades. The seniors won’t probably care much on the cool phone designs, although some middle aged ones may like cool phone cases, but for the most part, your target audience will include professionals and children with parents who can afford to buy them one.
The research will reflect what books or magazines a certain age group reads. For this kind of campaign, you may not be interested to focus on newspapers since most young people from the urban areas have access to news online through their mobile devices. On the other hand, you can get a picture on which TV shows are having the best viewership from the younger generations and the professionals as well.
2. Split Test your Ads
For the first test, you can run an ad in a magazine with an audience that covers the young professionals, and then another ad in the one that appeals college or high school students. Strategically place a couple of quarter page ads in both magazines using different messages and images, and then attach a discount coupon if they buy the covers online through your web site.
In the Ad, you have a code that they use to get the discount, and with such code, you get to know which Ad pulled the most audience in. If one Ad does better than the other by a good margin, the winner gets to become your control. You compose a new Ad and then repeat the process. Again, the winner is the control.
In this newer generation filled with updated technology, you don’t have to wait for months to get your results, and online avenues are available as well. There are many online advertising venues such as Google and/or Bing. In just a few days, you can get results and see which Ad performs best, which headline gets you visits to your site, and which copy converts visits to purchases.
In Conclusion
Hence, once you have done the above, you now have the foundation that I have mentioned at the first part of this article. This foundation is what you will use in your trade show booth. The winning Ad copy will be used at the trade show the same as they were used online, on a billboard, in a magazine, or on TV.
Know how large your trade show booth is going to be, then you can inform the company that will be making your booth and displays. Let them make the professional trade show graphic designs that will show off your message that resonates and appeals to your target market.
Barry K. Brown is a successful business man marketing quality print displays of banners, signs, decals, labels, stickers, and other advertising media for more than 20 years. He invites you to CLICK HERE for custom built trade show booth and displays at WHOLESALE pricing. Rated A+ by the BBB, you can ask for a Quote for FREE.